1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording method, a recording medium, a program, an information recording medium, and an information recording device, and, more particularly, to a method of recording information on a recording medium, a recording medium on which recording is performed by the recording method, a program to be utilized in an information recording device, an information recording medium on which the program is recorded, and the information recording device that records information on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the performance of personal computers has rapidly improved, it has now become possible to handle audio/visual information in the form of music and images with personal computers. Since the amount of data contained in audio/visual information is very large, there has been an increasing demand for large-capacity optical disks, such as compact disks (CDs) and digital versatile disks (DVDs), as recording media. As the optical disks have become more reasonable in price, optical disk devices that serve as drive devices to access optical disks are now widely used as part of the peripheral equipment for personal computers.
Also, as a wider variety of information is now being handled with personal computers, more and more types of optical disk have been developed. For example, CD-type optical disks include CD-RBM disks, CD-R (CD-Recordable) disks, and CD-RW (CD-Rewritable) disks. DVD-type optical disks include DVD-ROM disks, DVD-RAM disks, DVD-R (DVD-Recordable) disks, DVD-RW (DVD-Rewritable) disks, DVD+R (DVD+Recordable) disks, and DVD+RW (DVD+Rewritable) disks. Data recording and reproduction are performed on each of the optical disks in compliance with each corresponding predetermined standard.
In response to a public demand for improvement in operability of now widely-used optical disks, the Mt. Rainier standard was suggested, and the CD-MRW standard has been known as the Mt. Rainier-compliant CD-RW standard. In accordance with the Mt. Rainier standard, a file is dragged and dropped onto an optical disk device displayed as an icon on the display of a personal computer, so that recording on an optical disk can be immediately started. The Mt. Rainier standard further provides a function of controlling information as to defective areas and the corresponding spare areas on the optical disk (the information will be hereinafter referred to as the “defect control information”). If a designated data recording area includes a defective area, the data are automatically recorded in a spare area corresponding to the defective area.
DVD+RW disks have been developed as rewritable optical disks like CD-RW disks. Developing DVD+RW disks that are compatible with the Mt. Rainier standard is being considered with the purpose of achieving higher operability and providing a defect control function.
The Mt. Rainier standard is characterized in that a defect control area in which the defect control information is recorded and a spare area are both located in the data area. With this structure, even if an optical disk compatible with the Mt. Rainier standard (hereinafter referred to as the “compatible disk”, for ease of explanation) is set to a drive device that does not support the Mt. Rainier standard (hereinafter referred to as the “conventional drive device”), a special-purpose driver is incorporated into a host apparatus such as a personal computer, so that access can be made to the defect control area and the spare area. With this structure, user data can be recorded in an area that is not a defective area.
However, in a case where the host apparatus does not have the special-purpose driver, an optical disk set to the conventional drive device is invariably regarded as incompatible with the Mt. Rainier standard, even if the optical disk is actually compatible with the Mt. Rainier standard. When user data are recorded on the compatible disk with the conventional drive device, the recording is performed without regard to the defect control information. If user data are recorded in a defective area, a problem of inconsistency arises between the contents of the defect control information and the actual defects. Also, with a rewritable optical disk, there is a possibility of user data overwrite in the defect control-information area.